Thai Airways debt revamp plan gets support

Thai Airways planesThai Airways, with liabilities of about US$11bil last year, expects its creditors to vote on the court-mandated debt recast plan on May 12, acting president Chansin Treenuchagron said.

BANGKOK: Thailand’s finance ministry, the largest shareholder of Thai Airways International Pcl, signaled its support for a restructuring plan that includes raising fresh capital, a temporary freeze on repayment of borrowings and slashing its workforce by half to return the debt-ridden airline to profit.

The key elements of the debt rehabilitation plan are “quite acceptable, ” Pantip Sripimol, director general of the State Enterprise Policy Office under the finance ministry, said yesterday. The ministry will study the restructuring proposals in detail before deciding on its vote, she said.